Things happening in Mérida, Yúcatan, México

The rest of the story

I’m going to do a "Paul Harvey" follow-up to Debi’s wonderful blogs about our trip to Belize.I was one of the party of eight that travelled to Belize with Debi.

A bit of a back story. I had surgery here in Mérida ten months ago to have my prostate removed in a procedure that most US doctors would not even attempt.The surgery went very well and I am in the final stages of recovery.If anyone needs an excellent urologist here in Mérida, call Dr. Coral.

As with all body modifications, including surgery, things just don’t work as well as Mother Nature originally designed them to work.An often seen side effect of having ones prostate removed is bladder infections.Now most women are familiar with this malady but, for me, it was and is something totally new and more than a little unpleasant.One thing that I have learned is that, if left untreated, a bladder infection will totally shut off the bladder.If you want something that will cause you to totally lose focus, try not being able to pee for a day. Or should I say it like Leonard’s Hofstadter’s mother, "urinate?"

Well this happened on our trip to Belize.As a result, early our first morning I was at the hotel office urgently inquiring as to where a doctor, clinic, shaman or hospital could be found.Pedro, the hotel owner, directed me to a clinic just two blocks away, the “Doctor Otto Rodriguez San Pedro Polyclinic."

Once inside I was seen by a doctor within thirty minutes, and then ushered into the urgent care area.There, a nurse (Maria) and a medical student (Alex) inserted a catheter to relieve the pressure. After a urine test confirmed the bladder infection, the doctor prescribed three daily injections of a sulfa drug and three separate prescriptions (an antibiotic, antispasmodic and an anti inflammatory).

Maria and Alex removed the catheter and Maria then gave me the first injection. After which, I went back to see the doctor for my prescriptions.While writing up the prescriptions, the doctor explained to me that medical care at the clinic was free.The examination, today’s injection and the following two injections as well as all of the prescriptions were free. No cost, zero, zilch, nada, nothing!!However, he said, any and all contributions are welcome to assist in their treating others.Feeling quite overwhelmed by their skill, kindness and willingness to treat a foreigner without question, I made a contribution roughly equivalent to a US emergency room co-pay.

Needless to say, once the pressure was off, I was able to enjoy the remainder of my trip to Belize.

Oh Barry, so sorry that you have joined the bladder infection crowd. As someone who until this year had one about every 6 weeks to 2 months, I can sympathize. One thing that has helped me, I’m almost afraid to count how long it has been now since my last one but I think it was in March, are cranberry pills twice a day. Cranberry juice does work, it keeps the PH low and that helps prevent infection, but there’s a limit to how much of that anyone can drink. I got the pills at GNC and I’ve been taking them since March with no recurrence of the infections. Give it a try.